


Laundry Day

by callmeonetrack



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 13:05:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9273086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callmeonetrack/pseuds/callmeonetrack
Summary: Kara gets a surprise visitor on laundry day.





	

No one would ever mistake Kara Thrace for a happy homemaker, but if there was one task she despised above all others, it was doing laundry. It took hours to wait for the cubit-operated washer and dryer in her complex and invariably some jerk would dump her wet clothes out to claim a washer if she just happened to forget them there while she was actually having a life.

That’s why she always came to Zak’s much nicer apartment to do laundry now that he’d finally moved off-campus. He had a private setup, probably thanks to his dad being a commander, even if it was on the aging Galactica. The call sign Husker still echoed around the base in hushed tones of reverence and awe even aside from Zak’s proud boasts of his dad’s accomplishments.

Kara shifted the overstuffed duffel to her other hip and fitted her keys to the lock. She swung open the door and walked in, taking the four steps to the couch and grunting as she dropped the heavy bag to the sagging cushions. To her surprise, she heard the shower running. Hmm, she’d been sure Zak had told her he picked up some extra sim time from one of his classmates this morning. Walking to the bathroom, she nudged the slightly ajar door open wider and stuck her head in. The shower door was so foggy she could barely make out the outline of a person behind it.

A pair of fatigues topped a small pile of clothes on the floor and Kara swept them up. Zak was just as bad at laundry as she was. In fact, she’d be shocked if he even had a clean towel left in the closet.

Kara walked back over to the laundry bag, shoving the clothes in. Ugh. She was not looking forward to this. She checked her watch. 0900. Hmm, there was plenty of time to throw these clothes in and take advantage of the change in Zak’s schedule. She hadn’t really seen much of him lately due to all the extra sim time he’d been racking up. Besides, she deserved a reward for all this domesticity.

Kara quickly ran down to the basement and dumped the first load in, grabbing an armful and not bothering to sort. She turned the machine on and darted back up the stairs to the apartment. Crossing the room she stripped down, leaving a trail as she made her way to the bathroom in just her underwear. Zak liked to remove those himself usually.

As she reached out to swing the door open, she heard the shower shut off. “Hey, I was just about to join—” the words fell off her tongue and her jaw dropped as she stepped into the room. The very wet, very naked man who’d just walked out of the shower was not her boyfriend at all. He was slightly taller and slimmer and where Zak was firm, this guy was rock hard. _Everywhere._

He was also shrieking. “What the frak—” Shocked blue eyes stared at her and Kara realized she was ogling, but couldn’t have stopped herself for a lifetime supply of Caprica’s best cigars. Her eyes traced the droplets of water coursing over his rigidly defined six-pack and sharply cut hipbones to travel lower. He watched her gaze and defensively clapped his hands over his groin, blocking her view, and backed up against the far wall.

Kara reluctantly dragged her eyes up to his face and recognition sparked. “Oh, hey it’s you,” she said. “Big brother Lee. Zak never stops talking about you.” Her eyes slid up and down once more in an obvious once over and she grinned. “Although,” Kara murmured, “he left a few things out.”

Lee was speechless with horror and confusion and continued to gape at her. She cocked an eyebrow and tilted her head. “I’m Kara, by the way. Zak’s girlfriend.” She stuck a hand out to shake and by rote, Lee started to reach out to take it before realizing what he was doing.

Kara’s eyes flashed and she let out a completely intoxicating full-bodied laugh that made his nerve endings stand up. Mortifyingly, he realized something else was also trying to stand up thanks to the chilled air swirling in from the window and Lee turned partially away from her and towards the mirror. He caught her inclining her head back a little and realized this gave her quite a rear view. Lee shifted miserably, opting for a perpendicular angle. “Nice to meet you. I don’t suppose you know what happened to my clothes?”

“Oops. I thought they were Zak’s—well I thought you were Zak—and I threw them in the washer.” She glanced at the clock in the wall. “They should be done in 45 minutes though.”

Lee groaned, “Great.” He looked at the blonde in the doorway through the mirror. Despite the awkwardness of this situation, he was intrigued to finally meet this Kara Thrace that Zak had been rhapsodizing about in all his recent letters. Lee figured he owed her a once over and let his eyes slide down her body clad in only a black sports bra and black panties. Her arms and stomach were muscular but she was curvy in all the right places and his eyes lingered on her chest and legs. His brother had good taste.

Kara leaned an arm against the doorway and propped the other on her hip and struck a cheesy calendar girl pose. “Like what you see, do you?”

Her voice was dripping with sarcasm and laughter and Lee flushed. She clearly lacked the shame gene. How was it that he was the one who was completely naked here and yet he was also the one who felt like a 15-year-old schoolboy caught peeking into the girls’ locker room?

“Do you always meet Zak’s visitors in your underwear?”

She shrugged. “Be grateful I’m wearing these. I almost got in the shower with you.”

Lee gulped, as images of that flashed through his head. Feeling a tug low in his gut, he tightened his hands around his crotch almost painfully. Things were bad enough already. He didn’t want to have to explain to his brother why he’d saluted his girlfriend in a decidedly non-military fashion. “Um,” he hated how strangled his voice sounded, but couldn’t help it. “Do you think you could get me a towel?”

“Nope.”

He raised an eyebrow.

Kara held up a hand. “Not because I’m enjoying the eye candy. Even though I am. But it’s laundry day. There are no clean ones left.”

Lee looked at her skeptically. “Not one in the whole apartment? I mean I know my brother’s a slob but—“

“Oh wait!” Kara darted out of the room only to return a moment later with a white cloth wadded up in her hand. “I forgot he keeps a towel in his gym bag.” She sniffed it and wrinkled her nose slightly, then shrugged. “It’s…mostly clean.” She held it out, the towel dangling from her finger.

Lee went to grab for it and thought better of it. “Could you…” he nodded to the door for her to leave, but to his chagrin, Kara only threw it his way and turned around. The towel thudded against his chest and Lee caught it one-handed and started to quickly wipe down. It was barely bigger than a face cloth, but it was better than nothing.

He slid the rough cloth over his body and down his legs, bending to the floor. When he straightened up, rubbing the towel over the back of his neck and head, Lee peeked out from under the cloth and caught Kara’s reflection in the mirror. She was watching him again, but the amusement from before was completely gone. Her eyes were narrowed, her lips parted and she looked…predatory.

Lee absently rubbed the towel through his wet hair as their eyes locked. He stilled and somehow, even though he was just as naked as before, more so even, he no longer felt embarrassed. He’d worked hard for this body, and the way she was looking at him now made him think all those punishing hours in the gym had been worth it. He didn’t flinch this time, even when he felt that tug again, felt himself stiffen against his thigh and rise. Kara’s eyes flickered down once and then back up in the mirror and he saw the tip of her tongue slip out to glide over her lips. Lee swallowed hard.

He should say something, break this ridiculous staring contest. But he couldn’t. He wasn’t sure how long they stood there like that before the ringing of a telephone, loud as a siren in the silent apartment, cut through their inertia.

Kara disappeared into the living room and Lee decided this nudist streak needed to end now. He ducked into the bedroom and rifled through Zak’s drawers, snagging some boxers, a tank, and a pair of sweatpants that he could tighten enough to fall low on his hips, even if the cuffs rode above his ankles. He was relieved to see Kara had thrown pants and a shirt on when he re-entered the living room.

She was perched on the arm of the couch talking on the phone and Lee listened to her half of the conversation, punctuated with “babe”s and "honey"s in an adoring tone that he couldn’t quite reconcile with the tales of the hard-edged Starbuck that were flooding back to him now as he remembered Zak’s letters. Of course, the woman he’d met today hadn’t seemed particularly hard so far to Lee. She’d been fun and yeah shameless, but she hadn’t seemed nearly as guarded as Zak had led him to believe she’d be. Then again, they didn’t have the typical meeting, he supposed.

His ears perked up when he heard her say, “So, you neglected to mention your brother coming for a visit today.”

That was because Zak hadn’t expected him. He had just stopped by to shower and change on his way to their mom’s since Zak’s place was so close to the base. His brother had given him a key for emergencies when he moved in and Lee knew he wouldn’t mind him popping in to shower after the 8-hour transport from Picon.

“Yeah, we had a little surprise party.” Kara paused and Lee could hear his brother’s rapid patter through the phone line though he couldn’t quite make out the words.

“Oh don’t worry. I went easy on him.”

Another pause as Zak responded and she climbed off the couch, turning to face Lee full on. “Uh huh. Yeah.” Her eyes raked his body again and despite being fully dressed, he felt as exposed as he’d been with just the hand towel for cover. Kara’s eyes were sparkling and she smirked. “Mmm. It was love at first sight.” 

A beat passed, and she threw her head back, laughing with wild abandon again at whatever joke—or probably insult—Zak had made. Watching her laugh like that, her whole body shaking and a grin that reached ear to ear, Lee was surprised to find that he didn’t even mind.

Clearly, this conversation was going to take a while. Giving up hope of saying hello to his brother, Lee turned back to the bedroom in search of socks. As he walked off, he heard Kara saying, “Oh, you know. Just another boring laundry day.”


End file.
